Theophany

He forgot this: ('Easily' in this case means the Wings play like complete s*** and the Pens play perfect hockey* in the full 60 minutes. Crosby and Malkin will both need hat tricks.) * = perfect hockey in this case means how the Wings normally play.

Sure. Take Datsyuk's +/-. He's usually placed to shut down the opposing 'best' on D, and he's still +4, despite completely disappearing on the attack in the past 2 series. Oh, and Homer and Hossa (when they were paired with him) disappeared too. Staal isn't as good as you and other Pens fans think he is. Average at best by the Wings' standards. You could also take Franzen's, or Zata's, etc, but I don't think you want to do that, since they're at +10 and +11, respectively.

He's actually just saying that any fan of hockey already knows the result of a Wings/Pens SCF: Wings win. The Pens are a worse team this year; hardly the contender they were last year, especially with no Hossa to keep them in games they should have outright lost. It would be a lot more interesting were we to face a team like the Bruins with some actual depth beyond Malkin and Crosby walking all over the s***ty defenses in the East before they get stonewalled by Lids/Rafalski/Kronwall/Stuart/Lebda/Big Rig.

Franzen thus far isn't a 'stand in front of the net' guy like Homer is. He's a sniper (pretty much the definition of it). He's in front of the net from time to time when we're rotating the puck, but then again, Hossa, Dats, and Zata (among others) all take their time there; I wouldn't say that Dats is "learning from Homer". I'm not by any means saying Homer 'is lazy and he sucks' (). He's an asset to this team, though he needs to learn how to skate from Mr Helm (actually, the whole team does). Just saying that Franzen is a waste in front of the net with his skating ability and shot.

Eastern Conference + defenseman = / I get what you were saying, but there's not much defense in the East compared to the West.

Duck Guy with a Wings avatar/signature? WTFM8s? Prediction: Wings win 3-2, Zata/Homer/Hudler with goals.

Best ones in the thread.

Malkin is a russian, ergo 'not as important'.

I just wasted 45 seconds of my life. I could do the same thing to Hawks fans, and the Blue Jackets actually did it to their OWN fans in round 1.

At least I didn't ask the retarded question of, "so if Crosby were perfect, wouldn't he have lifted the Cup last year?" It's obvious that you don't like him, nor have anything to add to the thread. Don't let the door hit your ass too hard on your way out.

Absolutely not. Hockey is a team sport; if your team only has offensive firepower, you're not going to make it very far. If Sid was a perfect hockey player, yeah, that might have made a difference, but it wouldn't be the determining factor.

I stand corrected.

Supposedly Hudler is taking Dats' spot.

Yeah, there's no doubt he's one of the best offensive players in the current league, if not the best. What's being discussed, though, is whether he's the perfect forward. In which case, no, he's not. He can't go both ways. Discussion over.

The stats clearly support him. Oh, wait. This is one of those times when you wish there were a literacy and an IQ test to log on to the internet.

Interesting that Babs moved Hudler to the line with Homer and Hossa, though I guess when you've got Mule/Cleary/Zata clicking as well as they have been, you need to move someone else up. Should be interesting (in a bad way) if he can't play on friday. Though I'm not too worried since Ozzie is playing so well.

I don't like Khabby's big nose. But yeah, I don't mind the rest of the Hawks. Byfuglien is on my temporary s*** list for that acting job on Ozzie, but I don't have a grudge against him like I do Pronger, Perry, etc.

If Crosby were perfect, he'd be able to go both ways better than Zata and Dats. Maybe perfect offensive forward, but far from perfect on his own end of the ice.

90% of Chicagoans are fair weather fans. The other 10% are incredibly die-hard, though, just to make up for it. I speak as a Bears and Cubs fan, by the way.

You guys said the same thing about the Ducks, and we still won that series. The Hawks played the Flames and the 'Nucks, both of whom played weaker than the Ducks did; that their fans felt confident coming off of those series shouldn't be a shock. Facing a horrible Flames team and a 'Nucks team with no offensive punch to speak of and Mr Roberto "just call me Sieve" Luongo, yeah, you're going to look like you can take the Red Wings. The Hawks LOST to a tired Wings team that were--to be honest--playing like crap in game 2. We had moments of brilliance, but we weren't playing like we showed we could play against the Ducks. With two days of rest for our boys, we should be able to put it away in 5, if not 4*. It's over. The Hawks have to win 4 out of the next 5 to take the series. It ain't happening this year. (*: this is of course assuming that we show up to play in game 3 and game 4, and not slack off and play like we did for most of game 2. I expect to see Helm sharing his rocket skates with the rest of the team; I'm tired of seeing him being the only one trying to charge to loose pucks.)

Hell, it has to be getting into the heads of the Blackhawks, too. I'm sure they watched the Anaheim/Wings series and seen what we're capable of when we're really rolling and not just bringing our 'B game'. That's gotta be intimidating, when they were playing almost at the top of their game (that we've seen) and it just wasn't enough.

Forgive me, my wifi was lagging. The page never went past the initial loading. If there was a delete post option, I'd delete them.

I've played defense since I was four bloody years old. 20 years. I know how good Lids is. My point was that you obviously don't know how many amazing saves Ozzie has made this postseason. Conklin is alright as a goalie, but there's no way he could match Ozzie's play. Big Rig does fine on the defensive end. He's not great on breakouts, but he plays position well, and he could definitely body up on Kane and Toews.

No, but he does because he's the most valuable player on the team. People just think that playing well is the hallmark of being MVP. It's not. It's the person that you could not do it without. That's Ozzie.

Heh, I said the same to all my friends that are Hawks fans after they said, "bring on the Wings!" One texted me last night and was like, "dude, you were right. "